• (1) Kentucky state Rep. Leslie Combs, unloading her .380 semi-automatic handgun in her Capitol office in Frankfort in January, accidentally fired a shot into her furniture. Said Combs, "I'm a gun owner. It happens." In fact, she praised herself for being "particularly careful" to point the gun away from people while "unloading" it. (2) In March, an unnamed man was rescued by bystanders who heard screaming from a maze-like storm drain, which runs 12 feet below the street in Lawton, Okla. The man had accidentally dropped a $20 bill through a grate and climbed in after it, wandering underground for two days searching for his way out. (He never found the $20.) [Courier-Journal (Louisville), 1-8-2014] [KSWO-TV (Lawton), 3-6-2014]

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The Lakemaid brewery based in Stevens Point, Wis., acknowledged in January that it has been testing drone technology, with an eye to eventually delivering beer to isolated ice fishermen on Lake Waconia, Minn. The brewery reportedly found that a six-bladed drone would be necessary to carry a 12-pack for up to a half-mile. (The Federal Aviation Administration bans commercial drones, but is thought to be reconsidering the rule -- though not just yet, as it quickly ordered Lakemaid to cease the flights.) [WCCO-TV (Minneapolis), 1-31-2014]